Boston Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo was supposed to be one of the prospects for that backup plan, but the Cubs might not get a chance to interview him.

Sunday, reports indicated the Cubs would interview Lovullo at some point this week, but the Red Sox had not granted permission as of Monday afternoon. CSN's David Kaplan attributes the holdup to the contentious compensation negotiations between the two teams when Theo Epstein left Boston late in 2011.

Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal took it a step further, reporting an agreement exists between the Cubs and Red Sox that neither team would hire each other's employees.

The problem is, Lovullo wasn't with the Red Sox from 2011-12. He managed the Red Sox Triple-A affiliate under Epstein in 2010, but then spent two seasons in Toronto alongside current Red Sox manager John Farrell, who held the same position with the Blue Jays.